Allied Jet Killers of World War 2

by Stephen Chapis

  ‘I got into line astern and fired a two-second burst from 600 yards, and this time saw streams of white vapour coming from his port unit. I fired another burst from line astern – this time at 800 yards. The Me 262 increased his angle of dive, rolled onto its back and the pilot bailed out.’

  Both Tempest V pilots were credited with a shared victory each, although the similarity of their reports with that of Sqn Ldr Collier’s leaves the possibility that all three had attacked the unfortunate Meyer, with both the Canadians and New Zealanders being unaware of each other’s presence. Either way, both units were able to celebrate a successful Christmas.

  German jets were also encountered on Boxing Day as the dangerous German Ardennes offensive ground to a halt in the snow. The CO of Spitfire XVI-equipped No 127 Sqn, ace Sqn Ldr Ralph ‘Sammy’ Sampson, spotted some near Enschede, in Holland, but his frustration at being unable to catch them was evident in his mission report;

  ‘There were some jet jobs reported and then we saw four Me 262s, but we had no hope of catching them. I had a long range squirt from 1500 yards, but more in desperation than with any sense of hitting one.’

  However, near the border town of Julich, Flt Lt Elgin ‘Irish’ Ireland of Spitfire IX-equipped No 411 Sqn managed to damage an Me 262 (his remaining three claims were for victories), as, in mid-afternoon, did the No 135 Wing Leader Wg Cdr Ray Harries in his Spitfire IX – the ‘damaged’ was the last claim for the 16-victory ace.

  Flt Lt Johnny Boyle was flying Spitfire IX MK686/DB-L of No 411 Sqn on Christmas Day 1944 when he shot down Oberleutnant Lamle’s Me 262 (PAC)

  ‘The New Year started with a bang.’

  Thus, with something of an understatement, did No 401 Sqn’s diarist begin the entry for 1945 as its base at Heesch came under aerial attack at dawn. Operation Bodenplatte was a massive, but ultimately costly, Luftwaffe attack on Allied airfields that resulted in a day of heavy fighting. The valuable jets were not involved, however, and having achieved acedom earlier in the day, recently promoted Flt Lt John MacKay of No 401 Sqn led a section in an anti-jet ‘Rat Hunt’ to Rheine airfield at 1535 hrs. Several more piston-engined fighters were duly claimed, and MacKay and his wingman, Flt Sgt A K Woodill, also damaged a jet. The latter was spared, however, when MacKay’s cannon jammed and his wingman ran out of ammunition.

  It was not only tactical fighters that encountered the Luftwaffe jets, whose performance meant they were ideal for chasing high-flying Mosquito and Spitfire reconnaissance aircraft. During the early afternoon of 14 January, a Spitfire PR XI of No 16 Sqn being flown by Flg Off W F ‘Barry’ Barker on a reconnaissance mission of the Dusseldorf area was intercepted by an Me 163 Komet. Barker evaded so violently that he believed the fighter crashed.

  Tempest V EJ523/SA-D was the mount of New Zealand V1 ace Plt Off Duff Bremner of No 486 Sqn when he shared in the destruction of an Me 262 near Aachen on Christmas Day 1944. EJ523 did not survive the war, being wrecked in a crash landing on 25 February 1945 (Chris Thomas collection)

  That same day the Jadgwaffe suffered a crippling defeat, losing almost 200 aircraft to USAAF and RAF escort fighters during daylight bombing raids. 2nd TAF fighter sweeps also took a toll. During a sweep by the Norwegians of Spitfire IX-equipped No 132 Wing, among the fighters they encountered near Rheine were at least five Me 262s. One of these was shot down by Capt Kåare Bolstad of No 332 Sqn for his second victory. It also proved to be the only jet shot down by a Norwegian pilot. A little over a week later, on 23 January, further heavy fighting with the Luftwaffe resulted in a rich harvest of jet claims for 2nd TAF units. During a mid-morning sweep by No 401 Sqn, its CO, and ace, Sqn Ldr Bill Klersy was leading his unit over an airfield north of Osnabrück when he spotted jets taking off from nearby Bramsche. Initially identified as Me 262s, the Spitfire pilots dived to attack, as the squadron diarist noted;

  ‘Such a target is not very often seen, so after broadcasting the news to any other squadrons that happened to be in the vicinity, they immediately attacked. When the smoke had cleared and the squadron had returned to base to tally up the score, they found that three Me 262s had been destroyed and six damaged. One jet job crashed while trying to take off, so this was also claimed as a damaged.’

  In fact the jets were Ar 234s of III./KG 76, and those destroyed fell to Flg Off Don Church for his third victory, Flg Off William ‘Bud’ Connell for his fourth success and Flg Off G A Hardy for his only aerial kill. Three others were damaged, including one by the CO. No 401 Sqn then strafed the airfield, claiming five Arado bombers damaged, with five-victory ace Flt Lt Frederick Murray claiming two and one shared.

  The only Norwegian pilot to shoot down a jet was Capt Kåare Bolstad of No 332 Sqn, who destroyed an Me 262 on 14 January. He was promoted to command his squadron soon afterwards, but on 3 April he was shot down by flak and killed whilst strafing near Zwolle, in Holland (Bengt Stangvik)

  Whilst this mayhem was happening Tempest Vs from No 56 Sqn were out on patrol, and near Achmer Flt Lt Frank MacLeod and Flg Off Ron Dennis came across an Me 262 at low level that they shot down. The former described the first of his four victories;

  ‘We kept slightly below the Hun – the enemy aircraft was jinking slightly and we took advantage of this to close the range. The enemy aircraft was identified as an Me 262. The latter made a gentle turn to port, giving us an immediate advantage, and by cutting across the turn we closed to 150 yards. I fired a short burst with an angle off of approximately 30 degrees to port with no apparent effect. Still turning slightly with the Me 262, I increased deflection to about 40 degrees and fired, observing strikes immediately – I held my fire for about three seconds. My strikes were on the centre of the fuselage and on the tail unit – I saw flames and ceased firing. I broke away and next observed the enemy aircraft attempting to make a forced landing, with the fuselage and starboard jet on fire. He overshot the field in which it appeared he was going to land. After his tail unit had hit the ground the aircraft lifted and nosed into the next field, where it exploded.’

  On 23 January 1945, whilst at the controls of ML141/YO-E, Flg Off Don Church of No 401 Sqn was on a sweep when he spotted jets taking off from Bramsche. They turned out to be Ar 234s of III./KG 76, and diving in, Church sent one of the aeroplanes crashing to its destruction for his fifth claim, three of which were destroyed. Seen here taxiing out at B88 Heesch in March 1945, ML141 fell victim to light flak on 25 April – its pilot bailed out (PAC)

  Shortly afterwards Spitfires of No 411 Sqn flew an armed reconnaissance towards Lingen and Münster. At 1215 hrs Flt Lt Dick Audet attacked Rheine airfield, where, on a single pass, he strafed and destroyed an Me 262. Minutes later he spotted a jet in the air a few miles north of Rheine, and promptly shot it down. His victim is believed to have been Unteroffizier Kubizek of 4./KG(J) 51, and his demise provided Audet with his 11th, and last, victory. The following morning (24 January), near Münster, he damaged another Me 262.

  Almost three weeks would pass before another German jet was engaged in the air, this time by ace Sqn Ldr David Fairbanks, the newly appointed CO of No 274 Sqn. He was leading a flight of eight Tempest Vs on an armed reconnaissance when he spotted a jet and chased it through the scattered clouds for more than 20 miles;

  During a remarkable sortie on 23 January 1945 No 411 Sqn ace Flt Lt Dick Audet shot down an Me 262 (for his his 11th, and last, victory) and damaged another on the ground when he strafed Rheine airfield. He caught another Me 262 in the air the next day at Münster and damaged it too (DND)

  ‘I came through a small patch of cloud and saw the enemy aircraft about 800 yards dead ahead at approximately 1500 ft over Rheine airfield. He was just dropping his nose wheel and started to turn to starboard. I dropped my tanks on seeing the airfield and closed to approximately 250-300 yards and placed my bead on his starboard turbo [engine) and slightly above, firing a half-second burst to test my deflection. The enemy aircraft went straight down immediately and blew up in the centre of Rheine airfield.’

 
Although initially identified as an Me 262, his victim was in fact an Ar 234B of reconnaissance unit 1(F)/123, the jet being flown by Hauptmann Hans Felden. The next successes against jets were not long in coming.

  On 14 February a No 416 Sqn patrol spotted eight Me 262s escorting an Ar 234, but as the unit diary wistfully stated, ‘they proved bashful and the enemy pilots opened up the burners and pulled away into cloud cover’. However, others were more fortunate, as early in the morning, attracted by covering fighters over Rheine, the formidable Griffon-engined Spitfire XIVs of No 41 Sqn had their first engagement with Me 262s when, diving through the covering Fw 190Ds, Flg Off Eric Gray and WO Vivian Rossow each damaged a jet.

  Audet’s aircraft when he made his jet claims was Spitfire IX RR201, although it may have been coded DB-G at the time – the fighter was later recoded DB-R (PAC)

  A significant number of Me 262s had been on sorties that day, their pilots being tasked with attacking Allied troops advancing on the heavily fortified Siegfried Line along the Dutch-German border. Two of these aircraft (from 5./KG(J) 51) were shot down by No 439 Sqn pilots Flt Lt Lyle Shaver and Flg Off Hugh Fraser in their Typhoons for their third and fourth victories, respectively. Fraser brought down Feldwebel Werner Witzmann, while Shaver’s Me 262 was being flown by Oberleutnant Hans-Georg Richter. Within minutes Capt Freddie Green of No 184 Sqn, in another Typhoon, spotted a pair of jets near Arnhem and, finding himself astern of one of them, was able to open fire and damage it. This was the first claim made by a South African Air Force pilot against a jet.

  Then, shortly before dusk, Australian ace Flt Lt Tony Gaze was flying a Spitfire XIV of No 610 Sqn over the German town of Kleve, on the Dutch border, when he saw some jets. After unsuccessfully chasing several Ar 234s, he spotted three Me 262s;

  Australian ace Flt Lt Tony Gaze, flying Spitfire XIVs with No 41 Sqn, destroyed an Me 262 on 14 February and shared in the destruction of an Ar 234 on 12 April. In the closing days of the war he also briefly saw an He 162 in formation with an Me 262 (Tony Gaze)

  ‘I dived down behind them and closed in, crossing behind the formation, and attacked the port aircraft which was lagging slightly. I could not see my sight properly as we were flying straight into the sun, but fired from dead astern, at a range of 350 yards, hitting it in the starboard jet [engine] with the second burst – at which point the other two aircraft immediately dived into cloud. It pulled up slowly and turned to starboard and I fired, obtaining more strikes on the fuselage and jet, which caught fire. The enemy aircraft rolled over onto its back and dived through cloud. I turned 180 [degrees] and dived after it, calling on the R/T to warn my No 2. On breaking cloud I saw an aircraft hit the ground and explode about a mile ahead of me.’

  The first jet shot down by a Griffon-engined Spitfire was an Me 262A of 3./KG(J) 51 flown by Feldwebel Rudolf Hoffmann, who was killed.

  There were several more encounters with jets for 2nd TAF fighters during the rest of February, although these only resulted in several ‘damaged’ claims. Fighter Command’s Mustang-equipped long-range escort units were also occasionally encountering jets whilst escorting daylight raids by Bomber Command. On 21 February Flg Off Jan Borowczyk of No 315 Sqn reported spotting what was almost certainly an Me 163;

  ‘I caught sight of a single strange looking German aircraft proceeding to the east at about 15,000 to 16,000 ft. He did not see me yet and my heart jumped when I realised that this was probably the new German jet fighter ME 163, which I saw below. All I could think of now was what it would mean if I managed to shoot down the first of these planes to add to the high reputation of my Squadron. Thinking this way, I gathered all the speed I could, attempting to close up and to fall unexpectedly on the German. Alas, the German pilot was alert enough to spot an enemy fighter hurtling down in his direction. I was still at least some 1500 ft away from him when his aircraft gave off a puff of white smoke and started to move away with astounding acceleration.’

  The first big encounter between Fighter Command Mustang IIIs and German jets came on 23 March when an attack by 100 Lancasters on Bremen was intercepted by around 20 Me 262s. Southwest of the target, Flg Off Albert Yeardley, who had only recently joined No 126 Sqn, put a well-aimed burst into one and the Me 262 went straight in, giving him credit for the first jet shot down by an RAF Mustang – this was also Yeardley’s third, and last, victory. Also engaged was No 118 Sqn, led by Flt Lt Paddy Harbison, and he claimed one damaged, as did five-victory ace Flt Lt Mike Giddings;

  ‘As we turned to rejoin the bombers I dived on another ME 262, which was turning below me, and I fired a two- to three-second burst from 700 down 500 yards, seeing a couple of strikes and part of the starboard wing root fly off. It was impossible to close the range to these attackers.’

  On 9 April Flt Sgt Toni Murkowski was part of a bomber escort to Hamburg when No 309 Sqn engaged a group of Me 262s. He duly claimed one of the four jets that were shot down, which were amongst the final Polish victories of the war – he also damaged a second jet (Toni Murkowski)

  Giddings, who later became Air Marshal Sir Michael Giddings, fired 60 rounds from his four guns.

  Over the next few weeks the escort fighters engaged jets on a regular basis, and on the 31st more were encountered near Hamburg. This time they could not be caught, however, as Flg Off Bill Fleming of No 154 Sqn recalled;

  ‘South of the target I noticed some vapour trails several thousand feet above us going down in the same direction. Shortly afterwards I observed several Me 262s diving through our formation from above and behind, travelling at high speed. We dropped our tanks and dived on the 262s, but before getting within range they opened fire on the leading bombers with what looked like rocket projectiles and cannon, scoring hits on at least two of the bombers. One of the 262s, breaking away from the attack, came back under us at high speed. We opened fire at extreme range before he pulled away with his superior speed.’

  Albert Yeardley was more successful and damaged one of them.

  However, things improved on 9 April during another raid on Hamburg when Polish No 133 Wing, led by six-victory ace Wg Cdr Kazimierz Rutkowski, shot down four. Sqn Ldr Józef Żulikowski, CO of No 306 Sqn, shot down one 15 miles west of the target for his third, and final, victory, whilst Flt Lt Mieczysław Gorzula and Flt Lt Jerzy Mencel of No 309 Sqn claimed an Me 262 each. A fourth fell to No 309 Sqn’s Flt Sgt Toni Murkowski, who also damaged another. He told Andrew Thomas;

  Toni Murkowski was flying Mustang III FB385/WC-W over Hamburg when he achieved his jet victory on 9 April (Toni Murkowski)

  ‘During this raid on Hamburg we were off on the right, and suddenly the jets appeared from behind. I was in a turn and managed to slip behind one – gaining in speed, I opened up when I got to within 200 yards behind a jet. I could see bits flying off the engine and perhaps the flaps came off and he just dived in from about 20,000+ ft. I then caught another. The 262s were much faster than the Mustang, and if they had just gone straight I’d never have caught them. I later met an air gunner from one of the Lancasters who showed me a photo of a Mustang diving through the bombers, and when we compared log books it was of me chasing the first 262!’

  The following afternoon 200 Lancasters attacked Leipzig, and as the pathfinder indicators went down a No 405 Sqn Lancaster flown by Sqn Ldr Campbell Mussells was attacked by a Komet, whose fire shot away the rear turret and caused other damage. Pilots of several Mustang squadrons reported sighting Me 163s, and Flg Off John ‘Slops’ Haslope of No 165 Sqn spotted the rocket fighter that attacked Mussells’ aircraft. He ‘firewalled’ his throttle and dived after it;

  ‘I noticed a bomber begin to smoke and something appeared to fly off it. This resolved itself into an Me 163, which climbed vertically at great speed. The Me 163 turned towards me and I had a shot at him in a right hand turn, range about 900 yards and 30 degrees’ deflection, but observed no strikes. The Me 163 then spiralled into a vertical dive, which I followed, firing several bursts of about two to three seconds, observing st
rikes on four occasions on the wing roots and several small pieces came off. The Me 163 continued on down and was observed to hit the ground and explode.’

  During the final months of the war in Europe the Mosquito VI intruders of the Fighter Experimental Flight patrolled enemy airfields at night from their airfield at Wittering. Flying TA386/ZQ-F on 22 March 1945, New Zealand intruder ace Flg Off Roy Lelong damaged three Me 262s parked at Neuburg airfield. TA386 survived only a matter of weeks after VE Day, the Mosquito being damaged beyond repair when it swung on takeoff and lost its undercarriage in an accident at Y9 Dijon on 19 June 1945 (Robert Forsyth collection)

  The tactical fighters based on the Continent also continued to see action against Luftwaffe jets through March as Allied troops closed on the Rhine. During an early patrol on the 2nd Flt Lt Danny Reid of No 41 Sqn caught an Ar 234 near Nijmegen in his Spitfire XIV;

  The first of only two Me 163s shot down by an RAF aircraft fell on 10 April 1945 to Flg Off John ‘Slops’ Haslope, who was flying a Mustang from No 165 Sqn at the time (Chris Goss collection)

  ‘I closed to 100 yards or less, firing with 0.50-in machine guns and cannon whilst still overtaking. I saw strikes on the port wing, jet engine and fuselage. I continued firing and saw flashes in the smoke, breaking away and being hit in the port radiator by debris. I next saw the enemy aircraft going down in a wide spiral, with white smoke pouring from holes all along the port wing, and dark smoke from the fuselage. A large piece of the enemy aircraft suddenly flew off, and one person bailed out, parachute opening. The enemy aircraft steepened its dive and crashed somewhere near Enschede.’

  Soon afterwards a Tempest V patrol from No 222 Sqn spotted a pair of Ar 234s, as Flt Lt George Varley described;